As anyone who follows the news even tangentially will be well aware, the latest ‘weapon of mass desperation‘ used to attack Labour’s hugely-popular leader is a country. To feeble and flailing right-wing media and MPs, the complex troubles of a whole nation have been reduced to little more than a hammer to try to land a blow on Jeremy Corbyn.
Now MPs have set up a special ‘All Party Parliamentary Group‘ (APPG) on Venezuela.
APPG’s are informal groups that have no official parliamentary status – but they do confer the opportunity to receive benefits such as overseas trips, gifts and hospitality. They can, however, serve a useful purpose as a focal point for discussion and debate of complex issues – as long as they’re populated by people with a good grasp of, or at least an interest in, the issues they’re set up to address.
But the new Venezuela APPG does little more than expose the motivations and lack of character of MPs who have joined it. Labour MPs Graham Jones, Angela Smith and John Spellar joined the group – but their former deputy leader spotted something interesting and called them out on it on Twitter:
That’s right – alas Smith, Jones and Spellar between them have never made a single contribution in the House of Commons about Venezuela.
Not one.
The trio have shown no interest in the nation before. Ever. Yet suddenly, they are eager to form part of an APPG that supposedly exists to discuss nothing else.
In John Prescott’s eyes, there’s only one viable reason – they hate Jeremy Corbyn and want another opportunity to attack him.
Sure enough, they wasted no time setting about proving him right:
Many might think that you don’t need to join an APPG to spout the same nonsense the right-wing media and Tory politicians are desperately pushing, but if you want a veneer of relevance – and it’s hard to argue they don’t need it – then being a member of one might help if people don’t know how informal and status-free the groups are.
Well done to John Prescott for calling a spade a cynical spade; nothing but contempt and derision for MPs still trying to attack a hugely popular and effective leader that even his enemies now recognise is likely to be this country’s next – and desperately needed – Prime Minister.
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Good job they’re so useless, really, or they might have harmed Labour, Jeremy Corbyn and Venezuela.
And if these hard right entryists are good little boys and girls and Trump gets boots on the ground with the help of special forces and CIA black operations, who knows? There could be a fat cut of the proceeds made from selling the billions of barrels of crude lying in the 450 mile long “Orinoco Belt” winging it’s way towards them via unseen channels.
Despite their lack of involvement with Venezuela, I’d be very surprised if these three were unaware of the largest oil reserves in the world, this being the primary reason for a proliferation of #FakeNews and traditional US interference, backed by the lapdog “international community” including Tory UK.
Not to mention Frank field.
http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/iain-dale/iain-dales-very-sparky-row-with-labour-mp-over-cor/
Iain Dale: “Everything I’ve said is factual”
Later on (About the ‘alleged’ $15m in Chavez’s account) – “Let’s just ASSUME I’m correct”
Yeah, alright, dale. Run along quickly…
Corbyn has achieved so much for his party.
People are so stupid. Leave the fellow alone!!
These three MPs make me sick. Plaudits to John Prescott. Venezuela is none of our business. We have no ties with it but will be doubtless interested in it’s O.I.L.
I happen to live only about 1200 miles away in Costa Rica. My neighbour happens to be Venezuelan. That’s as far as it goes for me.
They have lots of O.I.L. and it appears that the US has been meddling with the country for a long time. They would like a “free” market dictatorship I think.
It is hard to find the truth about what is really going on. One thing’s for sure though O.I.L. will be at the heart of it.
These three Corbyn haters should consider their positions. Or their positions will have to be considered by others.
Pura Vida from Costa Rica.
Quite a nasty attack on Corban vis-a-vis Venezuela on Question Time last Friday. As John Pilger would say, “it is all about oil”.
If We Are Going To Have A “APPG” On Venezuela Then I Think We Should Widen The Scope To include Saudi Arabia & Possibly Syria.
We Must Condemn Violence Were Ever We See It.
It would certainly appear that Smith, Spellar and Jones are only using the Venezuela situation as an opportunity to continue to brief against and attack the Labour Party and that they could not care less about the people of Venezuela.
Yet again, it is right wing Cooperative Party and Fabian MPs who are at the centre of these opportunistic and self serving attacks on the Labour Party.
Cooperative MPs seem obsessed with plotting and scheming against the Labour Party. They continue to bite the hand that feeds their party.
There is now clearly only one option left for the Labour Party regarding its relationship with the Cooperative MPs. That is is to revoke the electoral agreement Labour currently has with the Cooperative Party.
The Cooperative Party will then be able to see just how popular its backstabbing and divisive candidates are by going head to head against Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and Labour Manifesto at the next General Election.
Saw this coming a while ago. When all else fails blame Corbyn for something outside his control. Spellar especially has been nagging away like a toothache since Corbyn’s election and any/all things he can try to pin on Corbyn will do. If the three named Labour MP’s are ‘interested’ in Venezuela it is only in passing and for their own specious reasons.
Ah well, I suppose we will have to have a few des elections after all.
Des elections?
I vote Des Lynam 😀
Every such action is expected from this wing of the plp, the tories,and the msm. We just sit back and wait for them to waste their time as they carry out the actions we already have discussed with others. Its like waking up and realising your a pretty fcking great clairvoyant.
Why bother calling them Labour MP’s?
Saddos. Self-serving careerist, westminsterist saddos. Given the opinion polls lead, there’s another three Labour could afford to wave goodbye to.
If I was Venezuelan I’d tell the three of them to get tae f…
Reblogged this on MAL's MURMURINGS and commented:
Labour’s rightist MPs are far from being moderates!
fields spellar should have been expelled from the LP years ago fields backed by the catholic church spellar ? so called untouchables
And what’s this APPG gonna do, like? Wag their finger at Maduro, or somethin?
Oh, I’ve got it, now…
“APPG’s are informal groups that have no official parliamentary status – but they do confer the opportunity to receive benefits such as overseas trips, gifts and hospitality.”
Prescott has improved quite a lot in the last few years. He seems to have been very supportive of Corbyn and he now opposes Trident replacement. He seems to genuinely regret his role in the promotion of the Iraq War.
Good to see that Corbyn has not done what they asked.
WHEN WILL WE STOP PUTTING UP WITH THESE MORONIC RIGHT WINGING MPs?
I FOR ONE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THEIR ATTACKS ON JEREMY AND THE LEFT!
DO THEY NOT REALISE WHAT DANGER THERE IN, SPOUTING THEIR LIES AND RHETORIC?
TIME THEY HANDED THEMSELVES IN TO BE COURT MARSHALED FOR DERELICTION OF DUTY PLUS BEING SPIES FOR THE OTHER SIDE!
WHEN FOUND GUILTY, SHOOT EM AT DAWN!
IF ONLY!
That’s what is being spread by our ‘not so wonderful’ media.🙄 That the leader of the opposition of the UK is now the soon to be dictator of said nation.
No disrespect intended for the democratically elected President Maduro of Venezuela either and the 300 billion barrels of oil. The Saudi’s must be ‘well jel.’
They really are pathetic beyond words. About time they grew up and started doing something constructive, or resign and let others who want to change society for the better replace them.
The link up the page a bit – ie Galloway speaks out on Venezuela – doesn’t appear to be working, so here’s another one (and it’s well worth reading):
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Document:George_Galloway:_Venezuela_critics_are_just_Blairites_having_a_kick_at_Jeremy_Corbyn
NB And I meant to say that I disagree with the writer’s use of the term “hard left”, and with George referring to the invasion of Iraq as a “war”. Apart from those two points it’s an excellent article.